Texas landowner sues state agency over Keystone

A Texas landowner is asking a court to overturn a permit granted by a state agency to a Canadian company to build a pipeline meant to eventually connect to a larger cross-border project.

Landowner Mike Bishop on Thursday filed his injunction in Austin. Bishop argues that the Texas Railroad Commission wrongly granted a permit to TransCanada, the company that is building a pipeline from Oklahoma to the Texas Gulf Coast.

That pipeline is designed to eventually connect to TransCanada’s larger Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport tar sands oil from Canada’s Alberta region to Texas refineries. That portion has not yet received necessary U.S. State Department approval.

Bishop is one of many Texas landowners fighting TransCanada’s land condemnations.